Is Your Mango Ripe Yet?

It’s mango season here in central Florida and we can not wait to pick some mangoes as soon as they're ripe enough to enjoy!  Do you know what to look for when checking the ripeness of your mangoes?  No worries, here I’ll be sharing simple ways to tell if your mangoes are ready to be harvested!

Squeeze

A quick squeeze test is one of the best ways to check the readiness of a mango.  If you give the fruit a quick squeeze and it’s hard or firm, it is not ripe.  A ripened mango will be soft, not squishy.  A mushy mango usually means the fruit is overripe.  One of my neighbors told me his favorite squeeze test involves “Pushing my fingers into them and the mango skin should have little dimples for at least a few seconds.”   

Smell

The stem side of the mango will have the strongest scent.  Pull the branch down or take a good sniff around where the fruit connects to the branch.  The fruit should smell sweet and delicious, not piney.  If the mango is perfectly ripe, you should be able to get a nice scent without trying too hard.  
Sap

When the mango is ready, the stem begins to produce sap.  The sap can sometimes drip onto the fruit, causing dark spots called “sap burn” which some folks may mistaken for rot or disease.  Be careful when handling mangoes that are sappy, especially if you tend to have sensitive skin.  Some folks are allergic to mango sap and I’ve heard the reaction compared to a poison-ivy encounter.  

Color

While the mango is in its early or beginning stage of growth, it will typically be green.  Once the mango begins to ripen, it will begin to change color from green to pink, red, yellow, or orange depending on the variety.  As mentioned above, sap will be dripping on the fruit once ripe, sometimes causing dark spots.  

However, there are many varieties of mangoes that can be grown here in Florida and each one can ripen to a different color, I wouldn’t recommend solely determining the ripeness of a mango fruit based on the color.  Please take some of the other factors listed above into account!       

Unripe Mangoes 

Say you harvest a mango too soon.  What are you going to do with your unripe mangoes?!  Don’t fret, there are good options.

Just try it.  One of my neighbors prefers unripen mangoes over ripen fruit.  She harvests her mangoes early, enjoys her tarty, sour tasting mangoes, and then bags the other fruit for her family and neighbors.  I’ve also seen unripen mangoes used in recipes for fish, salads, or even add spice to chili.  

Speed up the ripening process by wrapping the fruit in a paper bag, newspaper, or towel.  Keep the wrapped mangoes at room temperature inside. Storing unripe mangoes next to apples or pears, that produce ethylene a.k.a. ripening gas will also speed up the process.  Once the mango is ripe, it can be placed into the fridge but not suggested before ripening.  

Harvesting mangoes from the garden is one of the major reasons we started our edible garden.  By ripening the mangoes we eat, we get to experiment to see what is the perfect “ripening” for our family.  Another thing I didn’t mention is mangoes usually fall off the tree when ripe, so if you find fruit on the ground with large black spots on the skin it is possible it naturally fell from the tree and is ready to be eaten!